moringamission

Fahrenheit AgBioTech

2005-06-30T00:52:00.000-07:00

Fahrenheit Agbiotech

(A review by Thomas J. Hoban, from NC State University)

Genetically modified (GM) crops have fallen far short of early expectations in developed markets, and their future acceptance remains uncertain. European opposition has solidified, and studies from Rutgers (Ref.1) and others have shown that US consumers are confused and concerned about GM ingredients in their food. Western consumers are increasingly choosing alternatives to 'industrial' foods, as demonstrated by the rapid growth in the market for organic foods. A recent documentary, "The Future of Food", provides an excellent overview of the key questions raised by consumers as they become aware of GM food. It also is an unabashed attack on the agbiotech industry and its initial products.

The film's writer/director, Deborah Koons Garcia, the widow of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, is a prominent figure in the increasingly vocal antibiotech movement in California. Her film integrates vintage footage (e.g., from the 1973 Asilomar conference) with profiles and personal stories from critics of agbiotech. Agricultural policy expert Charles Benbrook, activist Andrew Kimbrell, and others appear as the film's heroes in a struggle against the release of GM crops into the environment.

The chief villain of the piece is none other than Monsanto, the world's leading producer of GM crops, which is singled out from the rest of the industry [rightfullt so!]. The company's lawsuit against Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser is roundly criticized, along with the broader issues of gene patenting and corporate control of the food supply. One segment highlights the political connections between Monsanto and the highest levels of US government, including former George W. Bush cabinet members Anne Veneman and John Ashcroft. The film indicts Monsanto for excessive influence over government regulation, by virtue of political appointments of key corporate executives at the highest levels of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of Agriculture. Monsanto refused Garcia's requests for interviews for the film.

Some of the most disturbing issues raised involve cracks in the regulatory and scientific foundations on which the agbiotech industry rests. Criticism is aimed at the FDA policy of "substantial equivalence" of GM to non-GM crops. The film argues that we don't know enough about the long-term effects of GM crops on human health and the environment. This will be particularly evident as genetic transformations become more complex (i.e., stacked genes) and the foods become functionally non-equivalent (i.e., nutraceuticals. [And potetially very dangerous ones]) The infamous Starlink and Prodigene incidents are highlighted as instances of regulatory problems. The film makes a case for consumer choice through labeling, industry opposition to which further alienates and confuses consumers. Consumers are already choosing non-GM food by buying more pricey organic products.

The film also surveys the key social, economic and ethical issues associated with GM food crops. As most US consumers have little connection with agriculture or the food production system, Garcia contends that many people do not even realize that GM crops end up in our food supply. Much of the European rejection of GM crops is due to the fact that food is more significant to their culture, so they care more about how their food is produced.

Finally, The Future of Food levels important charges against the public land-grant university system, highlighting concerns that have arisen as universities increasingly trade their independence for corporate contributions. Our universities are supposed to ask tough questions, but now there is limited tolerance for dissenting views within the system. The film describes the struggles over tenure between Ignacio Chapela and the University of California, Berkeley, over his outspoken criticism of the university's ties to the biotech industry. Citizens expect universities to serve the public interest [not do dwell in corruption]; in return, academia is expected to pursue intellectual diversity through a truly objective perspective.

As an alternative to GM crops, Garcia presents the case for less industrialized forms of agriculture, such as organic farming —- which now represents the 'gold standard' for many Western consumers. The film also documents a need for locally grown produce to conserve resources, benefit local farmers and ensure better quality, part of a movement known as Community Supported Agriculture.

Those who argue that GM crops are necessary to feed the world should realize that most Western consumers are not convinced. [And very rightfully so, since the claim flirts with the preposterous. On the other hand, corporate profiteers, and particularly the agro-industrial and medical-industrial complexes, keep the lid on vital information, such as the remarkable potential of the Moringa tree to fight hunger in the world, and make a substantial difference in the way we eat.] Research demonstrates that people prefer organic food for a wide array of ethical, emotional and environmental reasons [Ref.2]. In fact, major food companies have [started to] acquire organic brands so they can cater to this upscale market. The agbiotech industry has been warned that food processors and retailers could effectively hamper or even shut down the food biotechnology enterprise if consumer rejection keeps growing.

Though the film unapologetically presents only one side of the issues addressed, Garcia's goal is always clear: To raise consumers' awareness by telling the story of modern, industrial food production and the increasing presence of GM content in our food supply. In the same vein as "Super-size" Me and "Fahrenheit 9/11", "The Future of Food" draws attention to critical questions about food production that need more public debate.

As someone who has monitored the public debate about biotech for 15 years, I welcome this film. The current administration has let the government regulatory system wither on the vine, making good on its 1992 campaign promise to "take the shackles off the industry." Such shortsighted policies are, however, backfiring, as agbiotech increasingly (more and more) struggles for acceptance by Western consumers. (and faces increasing rejection).

REFERENCES

1. Hallman, W.K. et al. Americans and GM food: knowledge, opinion and interest in 2004 (Food Policy Institute, Cook College, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey; 2004).

2. Organic shoppers may not be who you think they are. Food Marketing Institute (Washington, DC; 2001).

“THE FUTURE OF FOOD”

2005-06-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

MORINGA & “WONDERPLANTS”- CAN YOU GET INVOLVED IN GROWING THEM &amp;amp;amp;amp; HOW? -- MORINGA REFERENCE & BACKGROUND MATERIAL – Ref: MorMat-FOF2

“THE FUTURE OF FOOD”

“The Future of Foods” is a film everyone needs to see. It has its own website at: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/ .

FILM DESCRIPTION: “There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. The FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. For more information visit http://www.thefutureoffood.com/ ”.

ABOUT “THE FUTURE OF FOOD”: “My goal was to make a film that gave the average person a clear understanding of how genetic engineering works, from the cellular level to the global level. I'm hoping this film can be a combination of SILENT SPRING, and THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS. Once you see it you'll feel compelled to act, even if that means just changing the the kind of food you eat.”~Deborah Koons Garcia.

Deborah Koons Garcia fell in love with filmmaking when she first picked up a Bolex while a student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1970. She was the instigator and Chief Creative Consultant for Grateful Dawg, a documentary about the musical friendship between her husband Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Grateful Dawg premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and went on to a lively run in film festivals, in theaters and on television. The Future of Food was shown over a dozen times as a work in progress in Mendocino County, California before the March 2004 election and was the primary element in passing “Measure H” which banned all planting of genetically engineered crops in the county, one of the most important of California counties. It was the first time U.S. citizens had an occasion to vote on this very important issue, and they made the right choice. All the people who worked on The Future of Food are proud that our efforts have had a real impact in the real world.

“The Future of Food provides an excellent overview of the key questions raised by consumers as they become aware of GM foods... (The film) draws questions to critical attention about food production that need more public debate.” ~ Film Review by Thomas J. Hoban, Nature Biotechnology Magazine, 03/05, V.23 N3

"This stylish film is not just for food faddists and nutritionists. It is a look at something we might not want to see: Monsanto, Roundup and Roundup-resistant seeds, collectively wreaking havoc on American farmers and our agricultural neighbors around the world. In the end, this documentary is a eloquent call to action." ~ The Telluride Daily Planet

"If you eat food, you need to see The Future of Food..." ~ Newstarget.com

ORGANISE LOCAL SCREENINGS: We highly encourage local groups to organize a film screening with Deborah Koons Garcia (the legendary late Jerry Garcia's widow) as a special guest: Ms Garcia is the CEO of “Lily Films” and the director, writer, producer of this provocative documentary.

One such event, which you could use as a model to arrange yours, was organized on June 26th, 2005 in Pasadena, California, by the itself legendary Dervaes family, a leading proponent of functional organic farming-gardening.

The highly informative Dervaes' site is here: http://www.pathtofreedom.com/a and the announcement for the event itself was here: http://www.pathtofreedom.com/outreach/events/futureoffood.htm .

The Dervaes family runs “PATH TO FREEDOM”, a “Sustainable Living Resource Center &amp;amp;amp;amp; Urban Homestead”, which is slowly becoming legendary and is widely considered as a very successful model of functional organic farming-gardening.

To ask for a Moringa Test Growing Kit or for further inquiry or venture proposals, please email us!

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MORFACT00 - 100 MORFACTS LINKLIST - TENTATIVE OVERVIEW

2005-06-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

MORFACT00 - 100 MORFACTS LINKLIST - TENTATIVE OVERVIEW
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WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 90 - CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

2005-06-04T03:38:00.000-07:00

NEED FOR A CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

PROTECTING THE MORINGA AGAINST ABUSE & EXPLOITATION

Someday soon, Moringa will be a fad.

Soon enough, every fast-buck artist is going to add a drop of it into sugar water, and claim miraculous properties.

Consequently, there is a need to put in place mechanisms of protecting the public at large now, while it is easy, cost effective, and will help prevent most of the potential for abuse a plant with truly "miraculous" properties when grown and used right is bound to create, as soon as public interest will start to be aroused.

Worse, the junk food industry is sure to jump on the bandwagon at some time, take some of their standard witchbrews, add 3 parts per million of Moringa, and claim, "Yes, OK, true, it's loaded with aspartame and organochloric sugar derivatives, 'partially hydrogenated' fats, MSG, artificial hormones and lots of GMOs, but since it contains 3 milligrams of Moringa per kilogram dry weight, it's excellent for your health."

Can we avoid these sort of practices to spread to the nascent Moringa food, beverages, cosmetic and nutraceutical industry?

Yes, with a policy of systematic public interest patenting and open-source licensing, and a generous program of certification for honest producers.

The Moringa Foundation will work vigorously to organize this and make it happen.

Link here!

(C) 2005, Moringanow.com Foundation, a Division of The Moringa Trust. All rights reserved worldwide.

"WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 31 - VINEYARD YIELD INCREASE"

2005-06-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

A STUPENDOUS BREAKTHROUGH: MAJOR

VINEYARD PRODUCTION INCREASE WITH MORINGA

& MORINGA BIODYNAMIC PREPARATIONS

THE ONCOMING ROLE OF MORINGA AND ITS PREPARATIONS IN THE VINEYARD

Of course the main problem with using Moringa preparations in the vineyard is the same as with using Moringa with any other crop: First, you'd have to find them or know how to make them. But second, and more importantly, using them is in a way "impossible".

Why is it "impossible"? It's not that it does not work, it does indeed work beautifully: Yield increase of sick (that is, conventionally-grown) crops will usually be in the 15% to 30% range; and of a naturally-grown crop in the 30% to 120% range. For an organically and biodynamically grown crop, yield increase will be in the 100% to 150% and more range. These percentages are of course given in comparizon to a standard, untreated -except of course with artificial chemicals- conventionally grown crop.

So what makes it quasi "impossible"? The problem here is in the human mind, its reluctance to abandon old ways of doing things, even if they have been proven wrong a million times, and in the structure of the agro-chemical business, backed up by the industries that actually benefit from poor human health.

One has to be willing to actually *try* something new. One has to actually be ready to *do* something that could get one in trouble with the big chemical manufacturers and their secular arms, and be ready to and capable of resisting the universal pressure to use chemicals. And perhaps even be ready and prepared to face all the underhanded approaches that certain vested interests are likely to take as soon as they will feel threatened in the multibillions in profits made poisoning our foods with pesticides, herbicides, genetically-mofified organisms, artificial hormones, and the like.

Nonetheless, the innovative farmer and grower, or simply gardener, can start to use Moringa discreetly to sever their chemical dependency. Of course, the organic grower is the first candidate for this, and will get richly rewarded when making Moringa a comprehensive part of their approach of tending their soil and raising their crops.

Considering that early adopters will see crops yield increases anywhere between 15% and 150% or more, there is little doubt that bio-dynamic Moringa preparations are soon going to start make huge differences!

Nowhere will this be more dramatic than in the vineyard.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FOR HUMAN HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?

Totally fundamental! If "we are what we eat", like Prof. Otto Warburg, the one person who ever got *two* Nobel Prizes in Physiology and Medicine, demonstrated not only theoretically but by his entire lifelong lifestyle, so it the plant. Dr Warburg practically refused to eat anything that wasn't grown in his own organic bio-dynamic garden, or the farms of a few trusted sources. Even for the believer in chemical poisoning, the fact that Dr Warburg lived to be 87 and remained in full possession of his considerable faculties practically to his death certainly must at least have vaguely *something* to do with the how and what he ate. Particularly considering that Dr Warburg's own belief was that his diet was the central and most important reason and cause of it, and he was a specialist of cell physiology, possibly the best that ever lived.

"His special interest (was) in the investigation of vital processes by physical and chemical methods" as the Nobel site put it. [Information on Dr Warburg can be found here: http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1931/warburg-bio.html and here: ... ]

He had two doctorate, in Chemistry, and in Medicine. When he went to serve in the Prussian Horse Guards in World War I, Einstein tried to persuade him that he was too promising a scientist to risk his life that way, and Dr Warburg finally returned to Berlin in early 1918 to be put in charge of a department at thre Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute by Emperor Wilhelm II, but not before having first won an Iron Cross in the battlefield.

As one of his biographer put it, he made "notable strides in cancer research, showing the carcinogenic nature of food additives and cigarette smoke and demonstrating how cancer cells are destroyed by radiation. He became so obsessed with environmental carcinogens that he would not eat store-bought bread and had his own organic garden to produce fruits and vegetables." "In 1944, Otto Warburg [who was Jewish, but left untouched by the Nazis) won a second Nobel Prize for his enzyme work, but Hitler decreed that Germans couldn't accept Nobel Prizes. Because he had narrowly missed winning in the late 1920s [he missed the 1926 Prize by a hair width], had won in 1931, and had won but couldn't accept the award in 1944, Otto (Warburg) entered that rarified circle of scientists who have been considered three times for the Nobel Prize." [Excerpted from: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/CarolASThompson/OWarburg.htm ]

Actually, Dr Warburg has only one colleague in that indeed very rarified circle: Linus Pauling, who largely shared Warburg's beliefs as to nutrition, and was known as one of the principal proponents of vitamin and mineral supplementation, and battled conventional medicine about nutrition and supplementation for his entire lifetime. He too died in full possession of his faculties at age 9? .

What the plant eats is the soil. A healthy soil, thriving with functional micro-organisms, is the key to a healthy plant, as Andre Birre, Andre Voisin, Jean Pain and Rudolf Steiner demonstrated.

The ultimate healthy soil is the bio-dynamically tended soil, and the biodynamically supported plant. Vineyards and wine are one of the ultimate food plants, one of the most fundamental part of a healthy human diet. As Dr Warburg once told Dr Hans von Reichmann, it is not by chance that the first public act of Jesus-Christ was to transform water into wine, and his last, sharing wine and bread with his 12 Disciples, ordering them to do so in memory of Him. As the Bible says:

[Quotes]

Growing wine grapes is one of the most noble endeavors in human agriculture, it is raising the blood of the Earth, Gaia's very life force, and settle it down in a form humans can partake to. Because of this, nothing is more important than growing healthy grapes, untainted with artificial chemical poisons.

Unfortunately, this is of course not what the dark side of agri-business does. Needless to say, grapes are one of the most chemically inundated crop there is.

Now, is that necessary? Of course not. Whether it is by ignorance, stupidity, or as some have advocated, malevolent intent, healthy, organic, bio-dynamically grown grapes are a rarity. What's the most remarkable with that is that it is economically non-sensical, since you can get higher yields and better wines with organic biodynamic methods. We are going to *prove* this to you right now.

To understand this, and how Moringa will soon play a major role in the healthy vineyard, you have first to understand how bio-dynamic intervention in the vineyard works. This is the object of Part I:

Part I - The byodynamic vineyard.

11 - If you need a refresher course on biodynamics, here are a few websites you might want to look at:
www.biodynamics.org American Biodynamics Association
www.biodynamics.com Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
www.biodynamic.net Biodynamic and Organic Gardening Resource Site
www.igg.com/bdnow/jpi/ Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html ATTRA - The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service has an excellent "Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation - Alternative Farming Systems Guide". John P. McAndrews, a specialist of bidynamics who for a long time was active in the certification process of ventures such as ATTRA in bio-dynamic agriculture and biodynamic compost preparation, is widely credited with having first understood the importance of Moringa as a bio-dynamic agent.

12 - For our overview of the issue, we selected an interview given by Greg Willis to Wine Business Monthly, a trade publication, in August 2000.
(You can see the orinal article, including formatting defects, at http://www.winebusiness.com/html/MonthlyArticle.cfm?Aid=19079&issueId=25889 )

Greg Willis is the CEO of Agri-Synthesis Ltd, a leading proponent of functional agriculture. Their website is at:
www.agri-synthesis.com )

The Wine Business Monthly" magazine introduced the Willis interview in the following manner:

In this issue, we've done something unusual for WBM. We've published a very long interview with the head of one particular company, a company whose vineyard management methods are controversial. Agri-Synthesis, Inc. claims that it can help growers eliminate the problem of Pierce's Disease and the glassy-winged sharpshooter. In a climate where there is near-unanimity that there is no cure for Pierce's Disease, this verges on heresy.

But Pierce's Disease and the GWSS represent what many feel is the greatest crisis California's wine industry has ever faced. All possibilities, no matter how slim, of dealing with this problem must be carefully examined. If some viticulturists have discovered through their own direct experience that certain techniques are effective, we believe it is our responsibility to report on them, no matter how unconventional these techniques might seem.

We hope you agree and find the information stimulating, challenging, and worthy of further research and experimentation.

Here is the interview, worth to be quoted in its entirety:

This man says he can eliminate your Pierce’s Disease... By Mick Winter

California winegrape growers barely had time to enjoy the luxury of post-Phylloxera battle fatigue before they prepared to take on the next vineyard foe--Pierce's Disease and its own Typhoid Mary, the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter. And as if that weren't enough, there's always Eutypa, leaf roll, and a host of other diseases and insects ready to attack their vines, their wines and their profits, should they drop their guard for even a few moments.

The traditional response has been to counterattack with chemicals. This ongoing, take-no-prisoners viticultural battle is based on the belief that disease and insects are forces that must be destroyed. But is there a better way to approach the problem.

Greg Willis , founder of the Napa-based company Agri-Synthesis, Inc., says there is.

"We can cure any insect, disease, yield or quality problem on any crop, anywhere."

That's what we read when we encountered the Agri-Synthesis web page. Agri-Synthesis says it is a "farm and vineyard management company devoted to using the latest Biodynamic preparations and techniques to maximize production and eliminate plant disease."

Any disease? Everyone knows there's no cure yet for Pierce's Disease. State and federal governments have allocated millions of dollars to deal with the problem. Physical inspection of incoming plants is being used to try to control migration of the GWSS, quarantines are being discussed, and in some counties ground spraying has begun. Aerial spraying has not been written out, although the environmental backlash could be politically disastrous to the industry. Environmental groups are much more litigiously skilled now than they were in California's Medfly days of the 1970s.

Actually Agri-Synthesis does not exactly claim to have cures. They just claim they can get rid of the problems. Which should be sufficient for most growers. And they do it with techniques based on a different philosophy than the chemical-based adversarial warfare most farming has engaged in over the past 100 years.

Greg Willis started Agri-Synthesis in 1994. Willis is a former Hospital Administrator, a college biology major with a masters degree in health care administration. Although he is not a viticulturist or agronomist, he has had a lifetime interest in gardening, has been studying plants and horticulture for 35 years, and is the author of a number of books on gardening. Already a recognized expert in organic gardening, he discovered Rudolph Steiner's Biodynamic theories and techniques in 1980 and began looking for places to apply them.

Willis says he chose viticulture as his initial target for three reasons: It was the area of agriculture most concerned with quality; it had excellent financial potential; and in 130 years no one had cured a single viticultural disease.

Says Willis: "Somebody asked Steiner what Biodynamics would have been able to do back in the 1880's for the vineyards in France if they had used his methods, and he said the Phylloxera problem would have been solved--instantly. And I thought--‘Wow!' I'd studied a lot of Steiner at that point, and I knew that if Steiner had said that, there must be something to it, because I'd already tried very hard to prove Steiner wrong on other things and had never been able to."

Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner is still a subject of controversy more than 70 years after his death. His system of Waldorf Education is highly regarded by many educators (and found lacking by others), and Waldorf schools have been established around the world. His agricultural theory, Biodynamics, is used on millions of acres throughout the world, particularly in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Proponents of Biodynamic winemaking include renowned French wineries such as the Rhône Valley's House of Chapoutier, Burgundy's Domaine Leflaive and Domaine de la Romaneé-Conti, and the Loire Valley's well-known Biodynamic advocate and author, Nicolas Joly. In California, Jim Fetzer, former president of Fetzer Vineyards, has over 150 Biodynamic acres of grapes, and Frey Vineyards is totally Biodynamic, as is Oregon's Cooper Mountain Vineyards.

Rudolph Steiner never actually cured Phylloxera because he died before he had a chance to put the theories into practice that he had presented in his 1924 agriculture lectures. But his ideas have survived and been experimented with by re-searchers ever since.

Willis is one of those researchers. He says he came up with the preparations and techniques necessary to deal with Phylloxera. "We cured vines of Phylloxera," says Willis. "Not all of them, but most of them. Over 80 percent on average, in any given field." Now Willis says he's ready to take on Pierce's Disease.

WBM: Growers in California's North Coast just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on replanting due to Phylloxera, yet you claim you have a cure rate of 80 percent. How do you deal with Phylloxera?

GW: "Instead of trying to kill disease, we use George Washington Carver's approach. We think of the disease in terms of what it's trying to tellus is wrong with the vine and the vineyard. With Phylloxera it's primarily a depletion of the soil, not the vine. There's not enough food in that field to sustain the vine. By adding humus and organic matter back into the soil, we can create a much healthier environment for that vine and that helps bring it back to life. Then we add a series of Biodynamic remedies, Biodynamic compost and cover crops. But they're all related to depletion of the soil.

We want to get the content of organic matter or humus content up to 15 percent in a three-foot diameter circle around the vine. When you consider that here in the Napa Valley the content is only 1-2 percent at the most, 15 percent is quite a leap. It's not necessary for the whole field, just around the vine, but you can't do it overnight; it takes a while to build it up.

If we start a program any time in the fall or spring, by June we'll know which vines are going to make it and which are not. We pull out the ones that aren't going to make it and do what we can to save the rest.

Depletion of the soil is one factor; the other factor related to Phylloxera is sunlight. In the Biodynamic view, silica is related to light, warmth and the regeneration forces that cause plants to flower, fruit and bear seeds. Calcium is related to dark, the earth, water and formation forces that cause the plant to grow and thrive. The root louse stays in the ground, in the darkness. If you look at soils that are loamy sand or sandy loam, such as in the Lodi-Woodbridge area of California's Sacramento Valley, you'll see that the occurrence of Phylloxera is considerably less than what it is here in clay soils. So we experimented with adding silica. If we can bring more "light"--more silica influence--down into the soil, we can create an environment in which the Phylloxera doesn't thrive.

I hesitate to use the word "light" because then you get into these long discussions of physical science versus classical Greek science. Most scientists today start rolling their eyes when you talk about the four elements of earth, water, air and fire. And well they should, because they don't translate to our times well. So when I say light, I'm referring to the silica element.

Steiner identified the two most important elements in plant growth as being calcium and silica. Silica affects the upright growth of the plant--rice is a classic example of a plant that's high in silica. Calcium affects the fleshy prostrate growth of a plant, as typified by by most cacti. Every plant, of course, is a combination of the two.

What you want to achieve is a balance of the calcium and silica elements, what are called "influences" in Biodynamics. The two influences are highly polarized. Silica works more in the reproductive area of the plant--the "regenerative forces," while calcium works more in the formation of the plant, the "formative forces". If it's tall and thin, its predominantly silica. Short and fat, it's calcium.

So it's a matter of understanding how these forces in nature work and utilizing that knowledge to create a farming system that will be perfect for that particular plant.

So, to increase the silica influence we obviously can't just dump sand on the field. It's expensive and will ruin the soil. So we came up with a silica paste that we paint on the vine itself. It allows the silica element to drip down and go into the soil.

WBM: So the problem isn't that the vine has a low resistance but that the soil is depleted and needs more silica?

GW: Correct. Our first experiment was with some phylloxerated Napa Gamay and Char-donnay in Glen Ellen in Sonoma County that was managed by Michael Topolos of Topolos at Russian River Vineyards. We treated the field and ended up with an average 500 percent increase in yield. We were so astounded that we got overconfident and changed the system the next year. It dropped down close to the original yield.
So we learned what worked, and what didn't. We discovered that, unless a field has been heavily phylloxerated for five or six years and the vines are pretty much dead, we can bring back 80 percent or more of the vines. And we've now done that in three different blocks.

Next we worked with a ten-acre block of Chardonnay Clone 2A at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. We started in October and by the following June it was clear that we had a system that could be repeated successfully.

Then we did two three-acre blocks, also in Glen Ellen. These were classic Phylloxera blocks, with blotchy holes scattered throughout the field. They all came around and produced the 500 percent increase in yield I mentioned earlier.

Once we figured out how to treat Phylloxera, we moved on to other things, because Agri-Synthesis, Inc. is set up primarily for research and development, not vineyard management.

Before we came in, Topolos was replanting everything. Topolos no longer has any problem with Phylloxera. We saved 80 percent of the vines and they replanted the rest. When we started this five or ten years ago, we didn't have this knowledge. If we'd had, we could have saved North Coast growers a billion dollars. But we have it now.

WBM: The American Vineyard Foundation has started a five-year research project on Eutypa, its effect on vines and the best way to deal with it. Have you discovered anything about Eutypa?

GW: Yes. When we see a field that has Eutypa, we conclude that the field doesn't have the carrying capacity necessary for the number of vines that are there. So we work to increase the fertility of the soil. You don't do that with fertilizers because although they produce a short-term increase in yield, they tend to deplete the soil over time. So we have specific compost remedies that are specific for Eutypa. But we also work on the field to improve the general fertility of the field itself.

Another thing is that when you have fungus in a field, you have death in that field. Something's dying. Fungi are attracted to decaying material and their role in nature is to break down that decaying material and, in effect, bring it back to life in a new form. So we don't say the fungus kills the vine. We say the vine dies and the fungus moves in to perform its natural function.

Now Eutypa is spread by ascospores floating into wounds, usually pruning wounds that are a moist environment that's perfect for the spores. So we go through the field a few days after pruning and spray with Horn Quartz and Equisetum tea, which is another biodynamic preparation that is extremely high in silica. This lands on the wounds and dries them out almost overnight. So now we've eliminated the spread of Eutypa.

Incidentally, Horn Quartz and Equisetum tea work for powdery mildew too. Because the tea is organic and made from plants, it's not toxic. You can even spray it right up to harvest.

So now we've improved the soil and prevented the spread of spores. The third step is to treat the vine itself. Contrary to common practice, we don't cut off the dead wood first. We know that 90 percent of the time Biodynamic systems work from the inside out. If there's still life in the vine, that life can be encouraged to spread throughout the entire vine.

For Eutypa we spray the vine with Equisetum tea. The tea is very high in silica--about 94 percent. We actually soak the trunk, the canes, the shoots, everything. This changes the environment from one in which the fungus can thrive to one in which it cannot thrive. We don't kill the fungus; we simply change the environment and it dies on its own. We also use a special compost and Biodynamic solutions or "preparations" that cause the plant to become more resistant.

WBM: You've actually regenerated vines that showed Eutypa dieback symptoms?

GW: Yes. In the Chardonnay block that I mentioned in Glen Ellen, one end had Phylloxera and the other was loaded with Eutypa. There were 20 or 30 vines that were infected with Eutypa, all right next to each other. We cured all but two or three of them.

We didn't need to treat the entire block; just the ones we thought had Eutypa. They grew a whole set of new canes out of the middle. It took about three years to get canes large enough so that we had new cordons. You don't get one-inch thick cordons the first year. But the very first year we had shoots that were long enough and 3/8 to a half an inch in diameter that we could actually bend over and create new cordons. By the end of three years, we were back in full production again.

Previously, none of those vines were producing at all. Almost every one of them had lost both cordons and the only thing that was left was the center. When we first went in there, the vines were about three feet to the cordon, maybe 40 inches. And then we were originally getting one and two-foot shoots off of that. Now we get shoots that are eight to ten feet tall.

WBM: Everyone is gearing up to battle the glassy winged sharpshooter, which is the most threatening vector to carry Pierce's Disease. Some people believe this can be economically much worse for the vineyards than Phylloxera. How have you dealt with Pierce's Disease so far? What can vineyardists do now to prepare, and later to deal with it?

GW: We already have some Pierce's Disease here in the Napa Valley but the vector carrying it--the blue-green sharpshooter--has a very limited range--mainly near creeks and streams. From our point of view, the glassy winged sharpshooter is Mother Nature's way of saying, "Hey, you didn't listen to me the first time, so now I'm going to hit you with a 2x4 between the eyes. If you continue managing your fields this way, this is what's going to happen."

I emphasize management because that's what this is all about. Managing. We're either going to manage in harmony with nature, or we're going to fight nature. And in any fight with nature, Mother Nature always wins, sooner or later.

So with Pierce's Disease we have a problem that is much, much more complicated than Phylloxera or Eutypa or powdery mildew, or any of the others. This is a multidimensional problem, especially now with the glassy winged sharpshooter. So it requires a multidimensional, multidisciplinary approach to solving the problem. There is no one thing that we or anyone else can do to solve the problem.

Simply coming up with a vine that is genetically resistant to it is not going to keep it from happening. I guarantee it, though I'm also sure there are a thousand people out there who will disagree with me. It won't work any more than AxR-1 did for Phylloxera. Just as the Phylloxera bug mutated, so will the Pierce's Disease bacterium Xylella fastidiosa mutate. Any time you get a field that's weak, it's going to show up with insect or disease problems.

There are lots of different things we have to think about when we look at Pierce's Disease. Not just the role of bacteria, not just the role of the insect vector, not just the management practices. And we can't say with a problem like this, that this vineyard can be fixed without considering the effect on it from other nearby vineyards. You have to look at it from both a microcosmic point of view and a macrocosmic point of view.

The first thing we do when we go into a field that has Pierce's Disease is we work to somehow isolate that field from the other fields. We do that a number of different ways. We use the Biodynamic remedies. We do barrier planting all around the field. Some of those plants will be to enhance the flavor of the wine; some will be to enhance the resistance of the vines--this is called companion planting. And some of it will be plants that send up a fragrance in the air that tends to confuse the insects coming in.

There's been a tremendous amount of research done on why insects are attracted to a certain plant and it has been discovered that the antennae on insects pick up a certain odor or chemical signal, a certain frequency, if you will, and that odor only occurs in a plant when that plant becomes weak. So it's Mother Nature's way of saying, "Ah, a weak plant. Kill it."

So if you have insects coming into your vineyard, it's because the vines are attracting the insect, not the other way around. It's not the insect looking for a meal. That insect has a role to play in nature. And in this case the role is to eliminate the weaklings. To cull the herd.

In Biodynamics, almost everything we look at is from the opposite point of view of standard practices. And it gives us very interesting and very successful results. We do everything in a way from general to specific, not specific to general. So the first thing we're going to do is look at the whole vineyard. What's going on here?

How can we protect the vineyard from the outside first?

One of our key preparations is Horn Clay, made by putting bentonite clay into a cow's horn and burying it for six to twelve months. One of the clay's effects is particularly interesting. What happens is that after you apply Horn Clay, the field goes "internal". It appears to stop growing for two or three days.

That scared me to death the first time I saw it happen. I thought, "Oh, no, I've killed the vines." So I spent three real bad days, and then the vines started to grow again. Needless to say, I was very relieved.

So first, we use Horn Clay to create this protective area around the vineyard. At the very same time, we're trying to bring life back into those vines and trying to get them to evolve into a plant that doesn't "need" to be attacked by a sharpshooter, and doesn't "need" to experience a disease--in this case a bacterial infection.

WBM: So getting back to Pierce's. You do barrier planting, you do Horn Clay.

GW: We do a full Biodynamic program in the field, which means we do the Biodynamic field sprays; we do the Biodynamic compost, as we normally would; we do the companion planting and cover cropping as we normally would. To this we add two additional sprays done in the springtime, the formula for which is proprietary.

WBM: Can you tell us what the effects of that spray are?

GW: It counters the effect of the bacteria. It does this by giving the plant what it needs to throw off the infection. It's a spray that goes on the vine itself. It doesn't go into the ground.

We spray twice. Once before bud break, and once after bud break. And then we do it the same times the following year. And it takes 18 months to lock in the system. The first year we can stabilize the vines. The second year we cure them and the disease doesn't come back again unless the vines grow weak. By that time we can also stabilize the environment around the vineyard. Unless it's a really bad problem, then it may take a little longer. We look at our Pierce's Disease program as taking 18 months from start to finish. Then, as long as you continue with the program, you'll never get it.

WBM: But you wouldn't initiate the Pierce's Disease program until you saw signs of Pierce's?

GW: No. Although of course we'd recommend a standard Biodynamic program just for the health of the vineyard.

The first thing we do when we go into a field is the VER--the Vineyard Evaluation Report. Part of that report is a five-year history. Another essential part is a pathology report. We need to know what diseases are in there. We don't want to start treating for something that's not there, and we don't want to miss something that is there. So we want to know if Pierce's Disease is already in the field.

There's a seven-acre field off Dry Creek Road in Napa with a stream running next to it and we think there's Pierce's Disease in there. I'm not a viticulturist, so we hire viticulturists. And one identified some vines he thought had Pierce's Disease. I know what it looks like, of course, but I'm no expert, so we want to make sure. So we'll have some experts come in and do a thorough analysis. I haven't found a single vineyard that didn't have at least two or three problems going on.

WBM; What would it cost a grower to treat an acre that has Pierce's Disease?

GW: Well, we're dealing with both labor and material costs. If you're talking in terms of the material costs, the biodynamic preparations cost about $75 per acre per year. Cover crops and companion plants cost about $150 per acre the first year, about $95 per acre per year thereafter. Biodynamic compost will cost a minimum of $300 per year. More if the field is really deficient. Labor runs around $325 per acre the first year and falls to about $175 by the third year.

WBM: So they can do it themselves?

GW: Oh, yes. Once they know what to do.

WBM: But if they hire you to take care of their PD problem, what would it cost them? Would the costs be minimal?

GW: No, because we put in the whole program. Remember, there's no silver bullet. This is a difficult problem to solve. It's one of the more difficult disease problems that there is in the vineyards.

The cost for us to do it would be between two and four thousand dollars an acre above normal maintenance costs. The alternative of course is to replant the entire vineyard and lose yield for several years. With our system, they continue to get yields and income during the transition period. But we'll teach them what we're doing so that after we're done, they can continue doing it. For PD we write a two-year contract. After that, they will have everything they need to know to continue with the basic system.

WBM: So you could teach them on just one section of their vineyard?

GW: Yes. We usually start with small sections and they can do the rest on their own. It's far cheaper than replanting, and they can continue to harvest grapes.

WBM: What exactly is Biodynamic agriculture, and specifically Biodynamic viticulture?

GW: Biodynamic agriculture, of which Biodynamic viticulture is just a part, seeks to bring a field or a farm back into balance and harmony with nature. So that you use the natural forces that are out there in such a way that you can create abundance and make a good living doing it. You try and create everything from the inside out, including your own fertilizers and such, so that you have a farm that is healthy in every way, shape and form.

One of our overriding principles is that we don't want to bring death into a vineyard. If we have plants that aren't just sick but are dying, we take them out. We don't use chemicals to kill things. We don't do anything to stress the vines. We do just the opposite. We want to make the vines reach their fullest potential; what Dr. Carl Jung called their "archetypal form". For grapevines, that means maximum taste and maximum yield.

When we encounter a problem, we don't go after the disease itself. Our approach is, disease is good in the sense that it tells us what we're doing wrong in our management of the vineyard. All we have to do then is make an adjustment in our management practices and the disease goes away because it's not needed any more.

Conventional systems tend to be created more along industrial manufacturing lines. You calculate your inputs and you calculate your outputs. If you add this, then you get that. What we do Biodynamically is a much more holistic approach. And in doing it, we get yields that are as good or better than conventional. But it's a little more complicated, and a little different, and you've got to know more in order to make it work. You can't just go in blindly and add ammonium nitrate and expect everything to get green. Sure, you can add ammonium nitrate and then it will get green, but everything else is going to be affected by it, too. We consider the fact that every single thing we do is going to affect everything else. It's kind of like pulling on a spider's web. You pull one small piece and the whole web moves. That's the Biodynamic approach.

WBM: It sounds like it's more complicated, more expensive, and harder work. Is that the case?

GW: No, it is more complicated in the sense that you have to learn new techniques that are different than conventional techniques. But I would say that if you were to take our system and compare it, our system is 80 percent conventional--very boring stuff. Ten percent is a little unconventional. And another ten percent is really unconventional.

We do most of the same things everyone else does; we just do them at different times. For example, we'll leave our cover crop on until after the vines flower. We want as many flowers in that field as possible to attract as many bees as possible to the vineyard, so that the bees can help in the fertilization of the flowers of vines, rather than our just relying on wind or whatever. Consequently, we get higher yields because we get virtually one hundred percent fertilization of the flowers.

Then we mow the cover crop; we don't turn it in immediately. We know that if we turned it in, we'd get a huge amount of nitrogen released into the soil available to the vines. This would result in a lessening of the quality of the grapes, and an increase in the growth of the shoots and not enough energy put into the development of the grapes. So we just mow it and let it break down naturally. Our cover crop is 85 percent legumes. It contains 10-15 different kinds of legumes, out of 24 different species of plants. Once they're mowed, they slowly release the nitrogen they've accumulated, at a rate that's best for the plants.

WBM: So you provide your own special cover crop too?

GW: Oh yes. Red flowers for red grapes, and white flowers for white grapes, among other things. We have a special Phylloxera mix, for example. Just as we have specialized composts for specific problems.

We're very sophisticated with our composting, by the way. We do pre-composting in certain cases. Where we want the compost to produce a certain kind of result, we'll create one kind of compost and then add that to the other kind of compost in the same way that food engineers manufacture different kinds of food products. We do the same thing with our companion plants. Everything's chosen for a reason. We work to create what I call "biocomplexity" in the field, not just "biodiversity."

WBM; Isn't this more labor-intensive than conventional vineyard maintenance?

GW: Not overall, because we'll be able to do certain things using our system that will cause us not to have to do other things. For example, many people do deleafing late in the season. And they do it for two reasons, sometimes three. One is to get more sunlight into the grape cluster and the second is to allow more wind into the cluster. The third reason for some people is they don't want the leaves touching the grapes because there may be a chance that there's some fungus moving from a leaf to the grape bunch itself.

What we do instead is use the Horn Quartz or Equisetum Tea in one or two sprays and go through that field in ten minutes to achieve the same result that it would take four men three hours to do.

WBM: You don't have to thin the canopy?

GW: No. One of the compost preparations that Steiner created was said to make the plant more "intelligent" so that it grows the way it's supposed to grow and produces the grapes it's supposed to produce without any problems.

We've seen this in the fields with head-pruned Zinfandel. This example is so clear. It's not like vertical trellising. In the head-pruned Zinfandel, we get canes that are six to eight feet tall and off of the head, and they grow straight up; they hardly bend over at all. Until around June, when they begin to come down and they stop growing--so we don't have to do any tip pruning at all, because they stop on their own--and as the summer gets hotter, they come down and cover up the grapes so they don't get sunburned.

Michael Topolos gave me this explanation because I'd never seen it before. He said "You won't believe what's happening" and he took me out in the field and showed me.

And I said I wasn't surprised. Because we gave the plant what it needed so that it could do what it needed to do. It's fulfilling its goal of service; to make it as easy as possible for us to grow grapes.

WBM: What are the "Horn" Preparations?

GW: Agri-Synthesis primarily uses three types of "horn" preparations in its treatment of fields. Horn Quartz, Horn Manure and Horn Clay.

Horn Quartz is referred to as Horn Silica by most Biodynamic practitioners but we prefer to call it by its source, rather than its component. We use it to add the silica element to the soil and the vines.

Horn Manure activates the calcium needed by vines. Of all the barnyard manures, cow manure has the highest amount of calcium. Because it passes through four stomachs in the cow, it's also fully digested before being excreted. Steiner considered it the finest manure available.

Horn Clay is bentonite clay in powder form. We add a little water to it, stuff it in a cow horn and bury it in the ground at different times of the year for different lengths of time. We make four different kinds: Two are buried for a year and two are buried for six months. Full year horns are buried spring-to-spring or fall-to-fall, six months horns are fall-to-spring or spring-to-fall.

The clays are always sprayed after you spray the others. When you spray the Horn Manure, it enlivens the life forces and calcium in the soil, and when you spray the Horn Quartz it enlivens the life forces in the leaves, the stems and the shoots of the vines. When you spray the Horn Clay, it "connects" the energies of the other two preparations.

Steiner said that the life force from the cosmos goes deep into the earth where it's stored in siliceous rock. It's then released and drawn into the calcium near the surface of the soil and then back out through the plants and up into the cosmos. He said the clay acts to connect those forces between the silica deep in the ground--thousands and thousands of feet deep--and the limestone element, the calcium element, up near the surface. It's like connecting two electric cords together.

Now we also spray Horn Sulfur, which speeds up the process even more. But that's very specialized.

WBM: Hugh Lovel, an authority on Biodynamics and the author of "A Biodynamic Farm", says that your biggest breakthrough was in developing Horn Clay. What did Steiner say about Horn Clay and what did you do that hadn't been done before?

GW: Steiner said that the clay acted to "mediate" between calcium and silica and that he would indicate at another time how to make it and how much to use. But he died before he could do it.

What did I do differently? I don't really know precisely what others did. I know that some people tried it in England and some others in Virginia. What I did do was go through the reasoning process and recognized that we're dealing with two different kinds of conditions. The Horn Manure is made in the wintertime when the life force energy goes out of the plants and down into the earth. Horn Quartz is made in the summertime when the life force energy comes out of the soil and up into the plants.

Two separate kinds of energy. So I reasoned that if you had both of those factors in the clay, then it would be more in tune with both the life in the soil and the life in the plants. So if we're going to be spraying Horn Manure and Horn Quartz in the springtime, we need clay that was buried from spring-to-spring. Because it would then be "in sympathy" with the two. If we spray in the fall, we use the fall-to-fall clay.

That's the first application. The second time we only use the six-month clays. And then we do it twice in the year. Let's say we spray in the springtime with the twelve-month clay, we spray in the fall with the six-month clay, so it would be fall to spring, and spring to fall, and so on.

It's attuned to what's happening in the soil, what's happening in the plants, and what those two other preparations have been created to accomplish and what they've drawn into themselves.

My reasoning made perfect sense to me so I started actually doing it. After a few years I talked it over with Hugh Lovel and some other people, and then put it out on the Internet, and everybody who has actually ever worked with this clay thought it made perfect sense to them, too.

The difference was, I made the four kinds of clay, they all had tried to make just one kind.

But they didn't use the right kind of clay, either. They were using local Georgia clay or whatever they had, which has entirely different properties than bentonite clay. Bentonite clay is like plain vanilla ice cream. It works everywhere on all crops.

WBM: Can you help someone who has an average producing vineyard increase its yield?

GW: Yes...to a certain level. Everybody knows that if you put enough into a field, you'll get spectacular yields--for a period of time. So, yes, we could bump up some of the fields here in the Napa Valley to 20 tons an acre.

However, it's my theory that a vine will only produce a certain number of pounds of grapes in its lifetime. That's its potential, depending on variety, location and so on.

WBM: Just as some yoga systems say a human has only a certain number of allotted heartbeats in his or her life.

GW: Right. Of course it's only a theory, but let's just say that one vine will produce one-half a ton over its lifetime. It can either produce 20 pounds per year over 50 years or a larger number over fewer years. So yes, we can bump up anything. You can do it using chemical fertilizers, using organic fertilizers, compost and whatever. Is that what you want to do, no? Does it affect quality? Yes. With their way, not ours.
If you have to replant that field after 15 years because the vines are prematurely worn out, you don't get any income for three or four or five years. What good does that do? How much profit does that really make? What we're looking for is the highest sustainable yield that that vine, in that location, can produce. We're looking for a more sustainable yield, a more sustainable growth, a more sustainable income. Over a long period of time.

WBM: What about quality?

GW: The Biodynamic preparations on their own, with the Biodynamic compost, serve to release what Luther Burbank called the "potential" of the vine. Dr. Jung said every plant has its archetypal form somewhere, and that form is perfect. Biodynamic practices bring out that archetype. Biodynamic food is known worldwide for its superior quality. It's superior to every other grown food because, as Steiner said, it contains not just the physical elements, but the spiritual element as well.

Traditional Biodynamic practitioners in this country have tried to discount the spiritual part because they felt that nobody would understand it. I don't believe that at all. I believe there are many people these days that are totally open to that concept. So you have the spiritual plus all the flavors and aromas that are supposed to be there.

Naturally, the quality isn't going to come only from Biodynamics. You still have to manage the vineyard properly. Good pruning, proper trellising, adequate irrigation, correct rootstock and clone selection are all essential. At one vineyard, the owners got a little over three tons from two acres of Zinfandel last year.

Michael Topolos and I did our magic this year, and it looks like we're going to get six or seven, maybe even eight tons. It was both Michael's pruning ability and our Biodynamics methods.

You have to be practical and you have to know your business or nothing's going to save you. If you prune it incorrectly, it's still going to produce a lousy crop, no matter how much Biodynamics you do. But good pruning and Biodynamics together are dynamite. At Wente, we came up with flower clusters that were twice the size, twice the length and with a canopy that was twice the size of a comparable vineyard managed "sustainably" rather than Biodynamically.

WBM: What effect does Biodynamics have on profit?

GW: We have figures based on five years' experience and over 300 acres. What we've found is that yield goes up, costs go down, quality goes up, income goes up.

Equipment needs are slightly lower than conventional. We need more equipment, but it's less expensive equipment. We use low-pressure sprayers as opposed to high-pressure sprayers. We use ATVs instead of heavier equipment.

Materials are a little lower. Labor is lower. We get an average of 1.5 tons of grapes per acre more than the vineyards were producing before. That's pure profit, because you're not doing any more work to get it. In fact, you're doing less. So our research so far shows an average of a three to four thousand dollar increase in income per acre. Net profit.

WBM: Rudolph Steiner is just one of the people you credit for your methods. Who are they and what do you believe was their key contribution to agriculture?

GW: George Washington Carver worked with the multiple uses of plants and their roles in nature. For example, he discovered over 200 uses for the sweet potato. And, of course, his work with the peanut saved the south from economic devastation.

Luther Burbank worked with the potential of plants. He was able to bring out everything each plant had to offer.

Rudolph Steiner worked with healing the earth and healing plants in a generalized way. He was not terribly concerned with yield.

What I do is combine the work of those three people and add a little of my own--working with specific disease problems and specific yield problems, as well as improving quality. I'm basically filling in the holes that Steiner left.

Equally important is that we live in a world where profit matters. If you don't make money, you're not in business next year. People are not going to switch to a system that doesn't make them money. Why would they? It would be lunacy. So, because of my business training, we've also focused on the economic aspect of it. We can show that our system is more profitable, produces higher quality and higher yields for less work, with less damage to the earth, than any other system out there. And we have specific ways of treating individual disease problems.

It's not just a new way of farming; it's a new way of thinking. Ultimately we're changing people's lives. We think it's a worthwhile thing to do."

And, if we may add here, what's particularly remarkable at this point is that Moringa preparations seem to be the elusive missing factor that "encourage" yield increase, in a smooth and harmonious byo-dynamic way: Anyone applying Willis's bio-dynamic approaches will be successful in the vineyard as well as with other crops, but when the "Moringa Factor" is added to equation, there is a bio-dynamic multiplication effect that comes to play.

Depending on all other relevant parameters, the impact on yields can be anything between 5% and 500%. If what you produce is worth, say, $20,000 an acre, even a very modest 15% increase represents a $3,000 windfall, and a more typical 30%-40% increase, $6K-$7.5K. Multiply that by any number of acres, and it will soon be clear that the rewards for using one's brains and find the courage to be a bit unconventional could end proving to be quite substantial.

Part II - The role of Moringa in the vineyard

This role starts with the physical, such as providing beneficial hedge boundaries and for possible intercropping in particular situations.

It continues with the agricultural, such as providing green manures and powerful fertilizers.

Goes forward to the bio-dynamic chemical replacement, for example providing powerful growth and yield enhancer.

And ending with providing natural agents for the vinification process.

Note: The following copyrighted knowhow is currently in the process of being transformed into numerous patent applications. If you wish to enhance your own operation by applying such proprietary methology and technology to it, the Moringa Foundation has been licensed by the Moringa Trust to sub-license a vast array of proprietary knowledge and enter in joint-venture proof-of-concept or full scale implementations of Moringa technology for vineyard and other agricultural enterprises.

Such licensing could be quite nominal for small scale and family-owned operation, with no up-front fees, all royalties coming in the form of a share on crop yield increases.

[Details withheld for the time being.]

ANNEX 1 - TESTIMONIAL OF BIODYNAMIC GRAPE GROWERS (from WBM)

Growers Using Biodynamic Methods:

Donald Harms (Napa Valley)
"We had a block of two acres of Syrah that was not ripening. Two weeks before we hoped to harvest, it was still at 15 brix. The winemaker rejected it. Agri-Synthesis came in and brought the grapes up to 24 brix. The winemaker changed his mind. Was he surprised? Yes."

Patricia Damery (Napa Valley)
"We had a severe botrytis infection on seven acres this spring. It showed up early. At Greg Willis' recommendation we used copper sulfate. It killed the botrytis, but the vines and leaves were still turning yellow. Greg started Biodynamic treatment and within three days the leaves turned green and within a week everything looked fine. You begin to see everything as a whole, the total environment. It's not just the Biodynamic preparations, it's the cover crop and the other plants and trees that we planted along the edge of the vineyards."

Ross Hall (Napa Valley), Vineyard Manager
"We're about to start with five or six acres and see how it goes. Based on what we've seen in other vineyards, we expect to expand usage. We have old Syrah that is heavily virused with leaf fold. These vines have exceptional quality and we want to save them. We expect Greg will be able to improve our yield considerably over the next two to three years.

"Each year 5 percent of our vines show up with Pierce's Disease even though we spray and take all precautions. We're hoping that Agri-Synthesis can eliminate Pierce's and even recover many of the currently infected vines. We watched what happened at Topolos and saw dramatic results over 3-4
years. Even over six months we could see definite improvement.

"I know some people think it's all snake oil, smoke and mirrors. It's hard for some people to accept that you take cow manure, bury it in a cow's horn, stir it up in water and go out and spray. It was hard for me too initially, until I saw the results."

Ralph Riva, Vice-President, Agricultural Operations - Wente Vineyards (Livermore Valley)
"We had Agri-Synthesis work on some old virused Wente clone Chardonnay. We had leaf roll in both the trial block and the control block. Greg Willis said when we started that the treatment would delay the symptoms of that virus for at least a week to ten days in the spring and fall. He turned out to be absolutely right.

"We also noticed in the spring that we actually had had warmer soil temperatures in late winter and early spring, indicating that there was probably greater biological activity in the soil at those times. It was about two degrees warmer than normal. That's significant when you're looking for root activity.

"If you follow the directions right to the letter, everything works well. You can see it in the general appearance and health change on the vines. There's no question in my mind that there are subtle, but very powerful, energies working there. I have nothing but praise for the system."

Michael Topolos - Topolos at Russian River Vineyards (Sonoma County)
[Editor's Note: Mr. Topolos recently became an investor in Agri-Synthesis]

"Greg came to me five years ago and told me about Biodynamics. Being a normal, intelligent person I was skeptical. He gave me some rosemary that was biodynamically grown, and I was impressed. Its aroma and flavor was five times as intense as normal rosemary.

"Then I tried a Biodynamic apple at the Golden Hooves orchard in Mendocino county. It was as if I'd never had a real apple before. It filled those spots in me that had never been filled. I thought that if I could get this magic in my wine, the world would be at my feet.

"I could. It is. My wines are filled with life, with vitality. By building up and balancing the soil, we've been able to rejuvenate old vineyards, so we can continue to benefit from their maturity and complexity.

"We can speed up or slow down the growing process. Last year we had some old Charbono vines in Napa Valley that weren't maturing. In October the sugar was still in the teens--18 Brix. I told Greg to heat up one part of the vineyard. Six days later we picked that vineyard at 22.7. The control side had dropped down to 18 and its grapes were never picked. The birds ended up getting them. I don't need any more proof.

"I've been farming 30 years and last year we had our greatest growth ever on a plot of land that is the worst ground we own. What we added was two shovels of Biodynamic compost at each vine site.

"We have great riparian habitat for Pierce's Disease but it's Darwinian. The weak vines, undermined by chemicals, will be more attractive to the insects and the bacterium. Our Biodynamic vineyards are so healthy and vital, I'm not concerned about them.

"Even a couple of sprays can bring a property into balance. We spray sulfur two or three times compared to eight or ten times for our neighbors. What we're doing here is important. I've never been more at peace and more committed to farming.

"We had leaf roll here on some Chardonnay. It was planted in 1973 and we had had problems ever since it had matured. I was told from early on that leaf roll is in the wood and that once you have it, you'll always have it. Greg eliminated it. Out of 2500 vines, every symptom disappeared. With one spray. After just two days.

"We had a Zinfandel block planted in 1972 propagated from vines originally brought to Sonoma County by Count Haraszthy in the 1860's. It was close to crush and the vines were virused with Mosaic. They were spotty, with their leaves hanging down. Greg sprayed and the next morning the vines had repositioned themselves. The leaves had turned so they could open up and receive the light."

Hugh Lovel (Georgia) A recognized expert and consultant on Biodynamic farming with over 25 years experience, and a six-acre market vegetable garden outside Atlanta, Georgia. Author of "A Biodynamic Farm".

"Greg Willis made a real breakthrough in Biodynamics with his methods of making Horn Clay. It's transformed everything in my garden. I'm able to plant my corn twice as densely as before and yet get outstanding quality. He's an innovator who has taken Biodynamics to entirely new levels."

Now, imagine what will happen when Moringa-based biodynamic preparations will be added to the overall picture...

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 04 - EXCEPTIONAL ANIMAL FEED

2005-06-01T03:26:00.000-07:00

MORINGA AS LIVESTOCK FEED & PET FOOD

Animals are biological systems exactly like we, human beings, are. The same principles apply, particularly the garbage in-garbage out principle. More, when animals are actually raised for human consumption, there a multiplication effect: Animals become what *they* eat, and we, in turn, become what we eat through them. Junk foods generate junk lives, and animals raised in the way of the agro-industrial complex generate sick and obese humans. Look around you, if you are not yet convinced.

Industrial agriculture, with its bottom-line-oriented practices that totally disregard quality in favor of quantity ultimately produces what we have become at large: Obese, chronically ill, sick and pathetic imitations of a what a human being could be. Considering that the chickens we eat are fed each other's carcasses as well as chicken feces and ground diseased animals, that supermarket beef eats ground-up diseased sheep and roadkill, the same for pigs, and that all this happy crowd is filled to the brim with synthetic hormones and antibiotics, how can we wonder if most of us wallow in chronical illnesses, cancer, heart disease, etc? And the same is true for our pets. At least *we* are not fed seasoned processed animal feces in pellet form. Well, at least not yet.

Could this change? Could farm animals and pets alike be fed healthy foods? Definitely, and the Moringa tree is poised to play a major part in such a necessary change. The agricultural experimental station run by Foidl & Foidl conducted extensive trials using Moringa leaves as cattle feed for both beef and milk cows, swine feed, and poultry feed. The results were as expected, except that, as almost always with Moringa, expectations where not only met, but passed. Moringa is not only concentrated nutrition, but in the raw form, also seems to reduce the activity of pathogenic bacteria and molds, and improve the digestibility of other foods, thus helping farm animals as well as pets express their natural genetic potential. In other words, Moringa is both nutrition and an adaptogen and pro-genetic factor.

BIO-DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF MORINGA-BASED FEEDS

This easily translates in quantifiable results: At the Foidl agricultural station, with moringa leaves constituting 40-50% of feed, milk yields for dairy cows and daily weight gains for beef cattle increased 30%, with no hormones and no antibiotics. Birth weight, averaging 22 kg for local Jersey cattle, increased by 15% to 25%, or 3 to 5+ kgs.

Notice that the high protein content of Moringa leaves must be balanced with other energy food. Cattle feed consisting of 40-50% moringa leaves should be mixed with molasses, sugar cane, young elephant grass, sweet (young) sorghum plants, or whatever else is locally available. The maximum protein and fiber content of livestock feed should be:
Lactating cow: Protein 18%; Fiber 26-30%
Beef cow: Protein 12-14%; Fiber 36%
Lactating sow: Protein 16-18%; Fiber 5-7%
Meat pig: Protein 12-14%; Fiber 5-7%

Because of the particularly high bio-availibity of Moringa proteins and the "natural steroid"-like effect of fresh, raw Moringa, perhaps desirable for human athletes, but dangerous if uncontrolled in animal feeds, particular care must be taken to avoid excessive protein intake. Too much protein in pig feed will increase muscle development at the expense of fat production. In cattle feed, too much protein can actually be fatal, because of the possible adverse effect on the nitrogen bovine digestive cycle.

Nutrient value of Moringa leaves can be increased for poultry and swine through the addition of an enzyme, phytase, to break down the phytates, leading to increased absorption of nutrients such as phosphoric compounds found in Moringa. The enzyme should be simply mixed in with the leaves without heating. It is NOT for use with ruminants. [Companies that sell phytase include Roche (Hoffman-LaRoche), which has distributors worldwide. A typical price for Ronozyme P (also sold as Roxazyme in some regions), a highly active phytase derived from the organism Peniophora lycii, for use in pig and poultry feeds, would be in the order of US$6.00 to $8.00 per kg. One kilo of enzyme at that concentration can treat 3333 kg of broiler chicken feed, the same amount of swine feed, or 5555 kg layer chicken feed. Phytase addition to basal diet linearly increase ash weight in the grower phase. With the exception of proline and glycine, the digestibilities of the other amino acids is linearly increased with phytase. For example, nitrogen excretion is estimated to be reduced by 4.6% when phytase was added to pig diets at a level of 500 U/kg. If you don't know of a local Roche dealer you can find one on the Internet at www.roche.com/vitamins/areas.html or write to their mail order address at Roche Vitamins Inc., PO Box 910, Nutley, NJ 07110-1199, USA.

Cattle were fed 15-17 kg of moringa daily. Milking should be done at least three hours after feeding to avoid the grassy taste of moringa in the milk. With moringa feed, milk production was 10 liters/day and without moringa feed, it was only 7 liters/day. This almost a 45% increase, with NO artificial hormones involved!

With moringa feed, daily weight gain of beef cattle was 1,200 grams/day. Without moringa feed, daily weight gain of beef cattle was 900 grams/day. That's a 33% increase, with NO artificial hormones and NO antibiotics involved!

The only problem was that higher birth weight (3-5 kg) can be problematic for small cattle. Thus, it may be advisable to induce birth 10 days prematurely to avoid problems. Incidence of twin births also increased dramatically with moringa feed: 3 per 20 births, that is, in proportion, 150:1000, as opposed to the usual average of 1:1000. This is actually an incredible increase of 15% in total live births, an astonishing fact that fully illustrates the extraordinary bio-dynamic effects of fresh, raw Moringa greens.

MORINGA LEAF CONCENTRATE

Chickens, for example, will not voluntarily consume moringa leaves or moringa leaf powder. However, about half the protein content can be extracted from the leaves in the form of a concentrate which can then be added to chicken feed (or used in many other ways). The protein content desired in chicken feed is 22%. To obtain the concentrate, mix leaves with water and run the mix through a hammer mill. Heat this mash to 70 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. The protein will clump and settle to the bottom. After pouring off the liquid, this can then be freeze-dried. Other alternate low-heat or non-heat method can be used to clump the protein.

A somewhat simpler alternative to freeze-drying is to take a pressure cooker and fit in the top a copper tube or steel tube. Take a compressor from an old refrigerator. Link the tube to the compressor inlet and run the compressor. At a temperature of 30 Celsius and about 50 mm of vacuum you can take out most of the water by evaporation in vacuum (in case you need it dry). However, this whole process actually comes to cooking the Moringa, which diminishes its nutritional qualities.

It is preferable to use Moringa raw, as part of a fresh fodder. For this, just take the sludge after sedimentation and mix it with dry fodder until you can handle it as a semidry mass. Then press it through a meat grinder to make homemade pellets. For pig fodder just mix the pellets with the normal fodder. However, be careful not to overdose with protein - fattening pigs need a maximum of 12-14% protein and lactating pigs 16-18% protein.

An alternate method is to use dry leaf cake left after juice extraction, which contain 12-14% protein, and mix it up with other suitable feed components.

PET FOODS

What is said here of farm animal feeds is valid for pet foods. It is less important from a human health point of view, since we don't eat our pets, but there is no doubt that the overall health and appearance (coat, in particular) of pets reacts very well to the addition of Moringa to their diet. Actually, a whole new industry of Moringa-based pet food and care product might arise, once pet owners realize the benefits of adding Moringa to the diet of their animal companions.

(C) Moringa Trust 1998, 2000 & Moringa Mission Trust, 2005. All rights reserved worldwide.

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 99 - THE MORINGA CHALLENGE

2005-05-31T05:36:00.000-07:00

"TAKE THE MORINGA CHALLENGE!"(TM)

What is the Moringa Challenge?

We intend to prove to the world in controlled conditions that in the climate conditions of Coastal Southern California or of Florida, with proper soil preparation and water availability, ONE HECTARE (2.5 ACRES) OF LAND can and will produce 250 METRIC TONS OF FRESH GREEN ORGANIC BIOMASS PER YEAR routinely, 500 TONS A YEAR with intensive care, and that this can be made to DOUBLE to 500 and 1,000 metric tons per year after clonal selection and fine-tuning of agricultural practices in less than 5 years time.

Potentially making the Moringa the most profitable organic crop ever cultivated... and Moringa plantations an investment that will beat any other agricultural endeavor.

If you have the land and are willing to make it available, or are willing to finance the challenge, or to write a grant request or raise funds to get the Moringa Challenge financed, please contact:
challenge['at']moringanow.com
[Please replace"['at']" with the character @]

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 02 - KEYS TO EATING RIGHT!

2005-05-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

MORINGA "WONDERTREE" - THE KEY TO EATING RIGHT!

Eating right is first and foremost eating wholesome organic foods, preferably raw and unadulterated. Eating properly and pro-genetically is the most fundamental key to human and animal health.

In turn, the key to wholesomeness in foods and animal feeds is a healthy soil, leading to a healthy plant.

In turn, the key to a healthy soil is mineral availability, itself dependent in a substantial way on the availability of functional and thriving beneficial micro-organisms.

In other words, mineral supplementation with rockdust and humic extracts, perhaps supplemented with composted seaweed or seaweed preparations; and micro-organism supplementation through bio-dynamic composts and compost teas is the key to wholesome foods and animal feeds.

And in turn, the key to a healthy, thriving plant is bio-dynamic "incentives". This can come in many forms, the easiest probably being Moringa juice preparations.

All of this is available to anyone who cares, and is directly or indirectly tied to Moringa leaf, bark, fruit, seed and root production -- the whole tree is edible, except the inner wood.

The best approach is to grow your own foods, is to do so in your own organic garden, or be part of a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) effort, where food is grown for you by people you can really trust, because *they* will eat the same foods than you!

(C) BioDynamic Mission Trust, 2005, Moringa Trust 1998, 2000 & Moringa Mission Trust, 2005. All rights reserved worldwide.

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 03 - NUTRITIONAL VALUE

2005-05-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

MORINGA OLEIFERA - NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF LEAVES AND PODS
[The following tables can not appear in proper tabular form on the present blogsite. They do on our website.]

Analysis of Moringa pods, fresh (raw) leaves and dried leaf powder have shown them to contain the following per 100 grams of edible portion:

Pods Leaves Leaf Powder
Moisture (%) 86.9 75.0 7.5
Calories 26.0 92.0 205.0
Protein (g) 2.5 6.7 27.1
Fat (g) 0.1 1.7 2.3
Carbohydrate (g) 3.7 13.4 38.2
Fiber (g) 4.8 0.9 19.2
Minerals (g) 2.0 2.3 ?
Ca (mg) 30.0 440.0 2,003.0
Mg (mg) 24.0 24.0 368.0
P (mg) 110.0 70.0 204.0
K (mg) 259.0 259.0 1,324.0
Cu (mg) 3.1 1.1 0.6
Fe (mg) 5.3 7.0 28.2
S (mg) 137.0 137.0 870.0
Oxalic acid (mg) 10.0 101.0 0.0
Vitamin A - B carotene (mg) 0.1 6.8 16.3
Vitamin B -choline (mg) 423.0 423.0 -
Vitamin B1 -thiamin (mg) 0.05 0.21 2.6
Vitamin B2 -riboflavin (mg) 0.07 0.05 20.5
Vitamin B3 -nicotinic acid (mg) 0.2 0.8 8.2
Vitamin C -ascorbic acid (mg) 120 220.0 17.3
Vitamin E -tocopherol acetate (mg) - - 113.0
Arginine (g/16g N) 3.6 6.0 0.0
Histidine (g/16g N) 1.1 2.1 0.0
Lysine (g/16g N) 1.5 4.3 0.0
Tryptophan (g/16g N) 0.8 1.9 0.0
Phenylanaline (g/16g N) 4.3 6.4 0.0
Methionine (g/16g N) 1.4 2.0 0.0
Threonine (g/16g N) 3.9 4.9 0.0
Leucine (g/16g N) 6.5 9.3 0.0
Isoleucine (g/16g N) 4.4 6.3 0.0
Valine (g/16g N) 5.4 7.1 0.0

Many of the above vitamins, minerals and amino acids are very important for a healthy diet. An individual needs sufficient levels of certain vitamins, minerals, proteins and other nutrients for his physical development and well-being. A deficiency of any one of these nutrients can lead to health problems. Some of the problems caused by deficient diets are well known: scurvy, caused by lack of vitamin C; night blindness, caused by lack of vitamin A; kwashiorkor, caused by lack of protein; anemia, caused by lack of iron. Many other health problems are caused by lack of vitamins or minerals which are less known, but still essential to a person's bodily functions.

Actual need for different vitamins, etc., will vary depending on an individual's metabolism, age, sex, occupation and where he/she is living. Recommendations for daily allowances (RDA) also vary according to whom is doing the study. WHO/FAO recommend the following daily allowances for a child aged 1-3 and a woman during lactation:

VITAMINS

(RDA, in milligrams): Child Woman
A Beta-carotene 1.5 5.7
B1 Thiamin 0.5 1.6
B2 Riboflavin 0.8 1.8
B3 Niacin 9 20
C Ascorbic acid 20 95

PROTEIN (grams): 16 65

MINERALS (RDA, in milligrams)
Ca Calcium 400 1,200
Cu Copper 0.8 2
Fe Iron 10 15
K Potassium 800 3,000
Mg Magnesium 150 340
P Phosphorus 800 1,200

The following lists the composition of Moringa pods, fresh leaves and leaf powder and what this represents in terms of recommended daily intake for children aged 1-3 and women during lactation. The listing of pod and fresh leaf content is for each 100 grams of edible portion. However, the CWS/AGADA project recommended use of dried leaf powder as a nutritional additive to sauces and infant formulas, whereby one or more spoonfuls of powder would be stirred into the sauce or formula before serving. One rounded soup spoon (tablespoon) contains about 8 grams of powder (100 grams of powder is a bit less than one and a half cups American measure). As such, the listings of leaf powder content are per heaped soup spoon.

As an example, 100 grams of the edible part of pods will contain 2.5 grams of protein. 100 grams of fresh leaves will contain 6.7 grams of protein and one heaped soup spoon of leaf powder will contain 2.2 grams. It is recommended that during the months a woman is pregnant or breast-feeding she should be consuming 65 grams of protein daily. So, a meal of 100 grams Moringa pod will satisfy 3.8% of her protein needs and a meal of 100 grams fresh Moringa leaves will satisfy 10.3% of her protein needs for that day. Each rounded soup spoon of leaf powder added to her diet will satisfy 3.3% of her protein needs.

PROTEIN PODS(100g) LEAVES100g) LEAF POWDER(8g)
PROTEIN (g) 2.5 6.7 2.2
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 16 15.60% 41.90% 13.60%
Lactating woman: 65 3.80% 10.30% 3.30%

Proteins are essential constituents of all body tissues and help the body produce new tissue, so are extremely important during growth and pregnancy and when recovering from wounds. Deficiency can cause growth retardation, muscle wasting, kwashiorkor and edema (abnormal swelling; collection of fluids in the body). Synthesis of protein by the body requires intake of vitamin A. Fresh Moringa leaves contain more than twice the amount of protein found in spinach (2.8g/100g).

CARBOHYDRATES PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
CARBOHYDRATES (g) 3.7 13.4 3.1

Carbohydrates are compounds which provide heat and energy for all forms of body activity. Deficiency can cause the body to divert proteins and body fat to produce needed energy. This can lead to depletion of body tissue.

FIBER PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
FIBER (g) 4.8 0.9 1.5

An important part of any diet, fiber aids in digestion. Recommendations are that an average adult should consume 18-32 grams of fiber daily.

CALCIUM Ca PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
CALCIUM Ca (mg): 30 440 160.2
% RDA
Child aged 1-3 400 7.5% 110% 40%
Lactating woman: 1200 2.5% 36.7% 13.4%

Calcium builds healthy bones and teeth and assists in blood-clotting. Calcium intake is very important during the childhood growing years. Deficiencies can cause rickets, bone pain and muscle weakness. Women frequently suffer from calcium deficiencies during pregnancy and breast-feeding periods. Fresh Moringa leaves contain almost four times the amount of calcium found in cow's milk (120mg/100g) and more than double the amount found in spinach (170mg/100g).

MAGNESIUM Mg PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
MAGNESIUM Mg (mg) 24 24 29.4
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 150 16.0% 16.0% 20.6%
Lactating woman: 340 7.1% 7.1% 8.7%

Magnesium helps the body maintain and repair cells, and provides energy. Deficiencies can result in weakness, tiredness, vertigo, convulsions, nervousness, cramps and heart palpitations.

PHOSPHORUS PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
PHOSPHORUS 110 70 16.3
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 800 13.8% 8.7% 2.0%
Lactating woman: 1200 9.2% 5.8% 1.4%

Phosphorus provides energy and helps build the structure of bones and teeth. Deficiency can lead to loss of appetite, weakness, bone pain and mental confusion. However, phosphorus is present in many foods so deficiencies are rare.

POTASSIUM K PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
POTASSIUM K (mg) 259 259 106
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 800 32.4% 32.4% 13.2%
Lactating woman: 3000 8.6% 8.6% 3.5%

Potassium helps the body maintain normal water balance in cells, transmit nerve impulses, keep acids and alkalis in balance, and stimulate normal movement of the intestinal tract. Deficiencies can cause vomiting, acute muscle weakness, loss of appetite and coma.

COPPER Cu PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
Cu (mg) 3.1 1.1 0.04
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 0.8 388% 138% 5.7%
Lactating woman: 2 155% 55% 2.3%

Copper is a co-factor in many enzymes, including those which provide hair and skin color, help skin to heal, provide protection from infections, and form healthy blood and bones. Copper, along with iron, is necessary to promote recovery from anemia among malnourished children. Deficiencies in babies can cause depigmentation of skin and hair, slow growth and diarrhea. In adults it can result in anemia, irritability, brittle bones, loss of hair color and loss of sense of taste.

IRON Fe PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
IRON Fe (mg) 5.3 7.0 2.3
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 10 53.0% 70.0% 22.6%
Lactating woman: 15 35.3% 46.7%

Iron is a vital component of red blood cells which carry oxygen. Iron assists the muscles to keep reservoirs of oxygen and makes the body more resistant to infections. Iron deficiency can cause anemia, tiredness, headaches, insomnia and palpitations. In children, deficiency can cause slow growth and impaired mental performance. Fresh Moringa leaves contain over three times the amount of iron found in spinach (2.1mg/100g).

SULFUR S PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
SULFUR S (mg) 137 137 ?

Sulfur is a constituent of all proteins and an essential element for all life. In the body, the sulfur content is mostly found in the skin, joints, nails and hair. The more sulfur content in the hair, the curlier it will be (sheep hair is about 5% sulfur). Although involved in many metabolic processes, there is generally not a recommended dietary requirement for sulfur because the body can extract it from the amino acids cysteine and methionine.

OXALIC ACID PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
OXALIC ACID (mg) 10 101 1.60 % *

An acid also found in strawberries, rhubarb and spinach, oxalic acid can combine with calcium and iron in the body to form insoluble compounds which the body cannot absorb. However, only large amounts of oxalic acid consumption are liable to cause calcium and iron deficiencies.

(*Oxalic acid content in leaf powder is listed as a percentage).

VITAMIN A PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN A -Beta carotene (mg) 0.11 6.8 1.3
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 1.5 7.3% 453% 86.9%
Lactating woman: 5.7 1.9% 119% 22.9%

Vitamin A in the form of retinol is found mainly in meat, eggs and dairy products. Beta carotene is the precursor to vitamin A which can be found in many plants, particularly those with yellow, red or dark green coloring. However, since absorption of B-carotene by the intestines is not very efficient, it is estimated that six milligrams of B-carotene are needed to give the dietary equivalent of one milligram retinol.

Vitamin A is important for developing good eyesight, healthy skin and hair, strong immunity and resistance to infection, strong bones, good growth and helps prevent anemia. Deficiency can cause intestinal and respiratory infection, poor hair quality, eyeball pain, poor eyesight, night blindness and xerophthalmia (a dry, thickened, lusterless eye condition) which can damage the cornea and lead to blindness. It is estimated that this causes 500,000 new cases of blindness a year in children in south-east Asia. Children who lack vitamin A are more likely to get respiratory, intestinal and other infections and are more prone to die from them.

Vitamin A is not destroyed by most methods of cooking. Some losses can occur at high temperatures, such as when leaves are fried in oil. Sunlight will also destroy vitamin A, so significant losses can occur if leaves are exposed to sunlight during the drying process. Carotene may cause some yellowing of the skin if taken in excess, but it is not harmful.

The vitamin A content of fresh Moringa leaves cited above is a very conservative estimate. Other researchers have found fresh leaves to contain as much as 9mg vitamin A per 100g.9 Nonetheless, even the conservative figure means that fresh Moringa leaves contain almost three times the Beta-carotene content of spinach (3.5mg/100g).

VITAMIN B PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN B -Choline (mg) 423 423 ?

Choline helps with metabolism and fat-stabilization. Deficiency can cause nerve degeneration, senility, high blood pressure, reduced resistance to infections, strokes and thrombosis (presence or formation of blood clots).

VITAMIN B1 PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN B1 -Thiamin (mg) 0.05 0.21 ?
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 0.5 10.0% 42.0% -
Lactating woman: 1.6 3.1% 13.1% -

Vitamin B1 helps the body convert glucose into energy in nerves and muscles. It helps in improving mental ability and heart functions, digestion, and warding off rheumatism. Deficiency can cause easy fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, impaired memory and ability to concentrate, beri-beri. Deficiency is a risk during periods of pregnancy and breast-feeding.

VITAMIN B2 PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN B2 -Riboflavin (mg) 0.07 0.05 ?
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 0.8 8.8% 6.3% -
Lactating woman: 1.8 3.9% 2.8% -

Vitamin B2 helps the body convert proteins, fats and sugars into energy, and also helps the body repair and maintain tissues. Deficiency can cause bloodshot or tired eyes, inflammation and ulcers on the tongue and lips, hair loss, vertigo, slow-learning and insomnia.

VITAMIN B3 PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN B3 -Niacin (mg) 0.2 0.8 ?
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 9 2.2% 8.9% -
Lactating woman: 20 1.0% 4.0% -

Niacin (nicotinic acid) is needed to help the body release energy from metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Deficiency can cause dimness of vision and eye muscle fatigue.

VITAMIN C PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN C -Ascorbic acid (mg) 120 220 1.4
% RDA
Child aged 1-3: 20 600% 1100% 6.9%
Lactating woman: 95 126% 231% 1.5%

Vitamin C is necessary for healthy development of bones, teeth, blood and sex organs. Deficiency can cause bleeding and inflammation of the gums, loosening of the teeth, weakness, lassitude and scurvy. Much of the vitamin C content will be lost when leaves are boiled in open pots or when the cooking water is discarded. Excess intake of vitamin C is not harmful.

VITAMIN E PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER (8g)
VITAMIN E (mg) ? ? 9.0

Vitamin E influences oxidation in body tissues, protects vitamin A and amino acids, and promotes the ability of white blood cells to resist infectious diseases. Some studies have indicated that vitamin E will help prevent cancer and Alzheimer's disease, as well as improve blood flow in people affected by arterial hardening, clotting or inflammation (atherosclerosis, thrombosis and thrombophlebetis). Deficiencies in children can result in irritability, water retention and hemolytic anemia. In adults, deficiencies can cause lethargy, apathy, lack of concentration, muscle weakness, irritability and decreased sexual interest. Recommendations for daily intake vary. For infants, formulas should contain at least 0.3mg per 100ml. For adults, recommendations range from 3 to 30mg per day, although extended intake of up to 3,200mg per day have not caused any negative effects. Other significant sources for vitamin E are soybean oil (87mg/100g), maize oil (66mg/100g), and roasted groundnuts (12mg/100g).

AMINO ACIDS PODS(100g) LEAVES(100g) LEAF POWDER*

Arginine (g/16g N) 3.6 6.0 1.33 %
Histidine (g/16g N) 1.1 2.1 0.61
Lysine (g/16g N) 1.5 4.3 1.32
Tryptophan (g/16g N) 0.8 1.9 0.43
Phenylanaline (g/16g N) 4.3 6.4 1.39
Methionine (g/16g N) 1.4 2.0 0.35
Threonine (g/16g N) 3.9 4.9 1.19
Leucine (g/16g N) 6.5 9.3 1.95
Isoleucine (g/16g N) 4.4 6.3 0.83
Valine (g/16g N) 5.4 7.1 1.06

Amino acids make the specific proteins required by the body's specialized tissues. With the lack of any one amino acid, production of the needed proteins cannot occur. Although the body is able to make most of the amino acids it needs, several are not made in sufficient quantities and must be obtained from the person's diet. These are called essential amino acids. The above amino acids represent every one of the essential amino acids. Argenine and histidine are especially important for infants who are unable to synthesize sufficient protein for their growth requirements.

(* Leaf powder amino acid content is listed in terms of percentage).

CONCLUSIONS

Leaves and pods of Moringa oleifera can be an extremely valuable source of nutrition for people of all ages. For a child aged 1-3, a 100 gram serving of fresh leaves would provide all his daily requirements of calcium, about 75% of his iron and half his protein needs, as well as important supplies of potassium, B complex vitamins, copper and all the essential amino acids. As little as 20 grams of fresh leaves would provide a child with all the vitamins A and C he needs.

For pregnant and breast-feeding women, Moringa leaves and pods can do much to preserve the mother's health and pass on strength to the fetus or nursing child. One portion of leaves could provide a woman with over a third of her daily need of calcium and give her important quantities of iron, protein, copper, sulfur and B vitamins. Just 20 grams of fresh leaves will satisfy all her daily requirement of vitamin C. For both infants and mothers, pods can be an important source of fiber, potassium, copper, iron, choline, vitamin C and all the essential amino acids.

Malnourished children can benefit from addition of Moringa leaves to their diet. The high concentrations of iron, protein, copper, various vitamins and essential amino acids present in Moringa leaves make them a virtually ideal nutritional supplement.

Moringa leaves can be dried and made into a powder by rubbing them over a sieve. Drying should be done indoors and the leaf powder stored in an opaque, well-sealed plastic container since sunlight will destroy vitamin A. It is estimated that only 20-40% of vitamin A content will be retained if leaves are dried under direct sunlight, but that 50-70% will be retained if leaves are dried in the shade.9 This powder can be used in place of fresh leaves to make leaf sauces, or a few spoonfuls of the powder can be added to other sauces just before serving. Addition of small amounts of leaf powder will have no discernible effect on the taste of a sauce. In this way, Moringa leaves will be readily available to improve nutritional intake on a daily basis. One rounded soup (table) spoon of leaf powder will satisfy about 14% of the protein, 40% of the calcium, 23% of the iron and nearly all the vitamin A needs for a child aged one to three. Six rounded spoonfuls of leaf powder will satisfy nearly all of a woman's daily iron and calcium needs during times of pregnancy and breast-feeding.

If one rounded tablespoon of powder is added to an infant's food, three times daily, the 25g of leaf powder will give him roughly the following in terms of RDA:

Protein: 42%
Calcium: 125%
Magnesium: 61%
Potassium: 41%
Iron: 71%
Vitamin A: 272%
Vitamin C: 22%

During periods of pregnancy and breast-feeding, women are most at risk of suffering from nutritional deficiences. If a woman consumed six rounded tablespoons of leaf powder per day during these times, she would receive roughly the following in terms of RDA:

Protein: 21%
Calcium: 84%
Magnesium: 54%
Potassium: 22%
Iron: 94%
Vitamin A: 143%
Vitamin C: 9%

(These charts were the basis for the educational posters published for display in health centers by Church World Service).

© 2000 Church World Service and 2005 Moringa Trust & Moringa Mission Trust. All rights reserved worldwide.

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 12 - PLANT GROWTH FACTOR

2005-05-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

MORINGA LEAF EXTRACT AS ORGANIC PLANT GROWTH HORMONE & BYO-DYNAMIC ALL-PURPOSE DYNAMIZER AS WELL AS HUMAN & ANIMAL ADAPTOGEN & IMMUNE SYSTEM BOOSTER.

As reported originally by Foidl & Foidl in 1994 and confirmed by Fuglie, and repeatedly independently confirmed since, juice from fresh Moringa leaves can be used to produce a very effective organic plant growth hormone and bio-dynamic plant dynamizer. It will, increase yields by 25-30% for crops such as onions, bell pepper, soy, maize, sorghum, coffee, tea, chili, melon...

It has even more remarkable effects on the growth of plants grown in greenhouses or artificial light conditions, which display yield increases from 30% to 150%, particularly when McAndrews type bio-dynamic composts and organic mineral supplementation is added. (Such special bio-dynamic composts can be ordered from http://www.biodynamiccompost.com/ )

It also has remarkable effects on human and animal health, and seems to contain a potent rejuvenation factor, besides being a powerful adaptogen perhaps comparable to the best wild ginseng. The immune system boosting effect of Moringa has been already widely documented, usually using dry material, and seems to be even more pronounced with fresh leaf juice. In both cases, the juice of organic or naturally-grown plants seems vastly preferable, and since Moringa is at large very pest-resistant, chemical applications are rarely necessary in the first place.

Fortunately, to the best of our knowledge, by 2005, none of the genetic stock of Moringa has been genetically modified to this date, therefore there is no need to worry about GMO poisoning.

For growth hormone activity, one of the active substances in Moringa fresh leaf juice is natural zeatin, a plant hormone from the cytokinine group, in a bio-dynamic "native" state, working in conjunction with the incredibly powerful cocktail of enzymes, vitamins and minerals contained in Moringa juice.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO DANGEROUS CHEMICALS:

The Moringa Mission staff has come to the conclusion that, with a little bit of research and experimenting, bio-dynamic raw moringa leaf extract with bio-dynamic organic minerals added according to protocols currently investigated could replace most if not all chemical products used for such purposes, and thus give the production of organic and naturally-grown food a very substantial boost.

Foidl reported that as a vegetal growth hormone, this foliar spray should be used in addition to (and not in lieu of) other fertilizers, watering and sound agricultural practices. The fertilizer of choice are organic and bio-dynamic compost teas supplemented with organically sourced minerals.

In one trial, use of this spray increased maize ("corn") yields by 116%, from 60 to 130 sacks per hectare. According to other reports, yield of plants grown under artificial conditions have been increased up to 150% compared with test plants. Using this hormone-loaded leaf extract, the agricultural experimental station run by Foidl in Nicaragua was able to grow coffee at 30 meters altitude only. Coffee, shaded with Jatropha curcas, produced beans in just 17 months.

Protocol to make basic fresh moringa foliar spray:

1) Make an extract by grinding young moringa shoots (not more than 40 days old) together with a bit of water (about one liter per 10 kg fresh material).

2) Filter the solid portion out of the solution. This can be done by placing the solution in a cloth and wringing out the liquid. The solid matter, which will contain 12-14% protein, can be used as food or animal feed.

3) Dilute the extract with water at a 1:32 ratio and spray directly onto plants (if the extract is not going to be used within five hours, it is best stored in a freezer until needed). Apply about 25 ml per plant.
The foliar spray should be applied 10 days after the first shoots emerge from the soil, again about 30 days before plants begin to flower, again when seed appears and finally once more during the maturation phase.

4) For commercial application, the spray can be stabilized using different approaches. However, it is important NOT to heat the solution above ~ 40 degrees C/90 F, to preserve it in a bio-dynamic raw state.

(C) Moringa Trust 1998, 2000 & Moringa Mission Trust, 2005. All rights reserved worldwide.

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 11 - MORINGA GREEN MANURE

2005-05-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

"MORINGA - NATURAL ORGANIC GREEN MANURE"

Natural "Green Manure" Composting of Moringa Shoots

Using Moringa as a green manure can significantly enrich agricultural land. In this process, the land is first tilled. Moringa seed is then planted 1-2.5 cm (1/2 to 1 inch) deep at a spacing of 10x10 cm (4" x 4"), which translates in a density of 1 MSeed per hectare, or 400 KSeed per acre, and byo-dynamic preparations are added as necessary or desired.

That density can even be increased. The only limits to plant density are availability of seed, water, minerals and natural fertilizers. After 25 to 40 days, the seedlings are plowed into the soil to a depth of 15 cm. The land is prepared again for the crop desired. All other conditions being equal, final crop yields should consistently increase by at least 25% compared to unamended plots, and chemical amendment becomes unnecessary as well as undesirable. This method is of particular interest to organic growers.

Seeding can be done mechanically if the seed is first de-hulled. Planting kernels will reduce germination time by up to three days. Be aware that freshness of seed has a direct relation to germination time. The fresher the seed, the shorter the germination time. Old but still viable seed will need soaking for up to 3 days, and an additional up to 2 weeks for germination.

If no tractor is available, a simple method of seeding is to first rototill the soil to a depth of 10 cm, then scatter seed over the soil and rototill again to a depth of 2-3 cm.

(C) Moringa Trust 2000 & Moringa Mission Trust, 2005. All rights reserved worldwide.

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 01 - GREATEST BIOMASS YIELD

2005-05-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

"WITH THE GREATEST BIOMASS YIELD OF ANY KNOWN CULTIVATED PLANT, MORINGA BEATS EVEN HEMP & WATER LILLIES IN BIOMASS PRODUCTION!"

WONDERTREE - 100 FACTS - MORINGA FACT 00 - ULTIMATE FOOD & FEED

2005-05-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

"THE MOST COMPLETE FOOD FOR HUMAN & ANIMALS ALIKE, MORINGA HAS BEEN HAILED AS 'THE ULTIMATE FOOD', BOTH FOOD & MEDICINE!"

MORFACT00 - WELCOME! - This site is dedicated to the 'Miracle Tree' - MORINGA

2005-05-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the site dedicated to the 'Miracle Tree' - Moringa

MORFACT00-V015

WELCOME!
THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE 'MIRACLE TREE' - MORINGA

You will be able to find here...

Everything you
need to know about MORINGA,

the "Miracle Tree" specie.

For example, you will find here "The 100 Morfacts", a collection of 100 FACTS about the Moringa, what makes it so unique among cultivated tree species, as well as an unique opportunity to heal the planet, and ourselves; how that relates to you and could positively impact your life and benefit you and those you care for, and what you can do about it.

And to get an idea of the remarkable potential of bio-dynamic agriculture with the Moringa, you could look at Moringa and the Vineyard. Up to half of the 100 Facts should be available here by June 10th, 2005.

QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE MORINGANOW.COM WEBSITE

MORINGANOW.COM OVERVIEW: Who WE ARE - What WE DO - What WE OFFER YOU

Who WE ARE: A group of people and organizations dedicated to sharing the good news about and promoting the Moringa tree genus, for the advancement of knowledge, the betterment of the human condition and the healing of the planet and of ourselves.

To name just a few, the Moringa tree provides ultimate nutrition and optimal animal feeds, powerful medicines, solutions to many environmental problems... and this is just the top of the iceberg.

We call this the "Moringa Mission", which we invite you to join. To join formally costs as little as $1/Euro1/GBP1/Yen100, and you can "join" informally at no cost whatsoever just by providing us with an email address for the Newsletter-eZine.

What WE DO: Anything that comes to mind that's legal and ethical to promote this noblest of cause: The Moringa tree has the potential to end world hunger, help avoid many diseases, and substantially contribute to the health and well-being of anyone partaking to that food-medicine (in the Hippocratic sense), as well as to properly nourish animals, replenish depleted soils, and heal ecologically-disturbed areas.

WHAT WE OFFER YOU: First and before all, critical information, allowing you to follow the progress of the formal and informal "Global Moringa Movement", as well as access to critical supplies if you are an active participant to any of the formal or informal efforts to promote
the Moringa specie.

Our goal with this particular website is to create a practical encyclopedia of the Moringa "Miracle Tree", the Moringa Genus, and document its incredible flexibility and promises in our common effort toward healing ourselves and the planet.

Once we start releasing this information and publishing the www.moringanow.com and related websites, all related webpages will be a work in progress, constantly modified and fine-tuned. Each successive version of these webpages and documents will be version-numbered and
constantly enhanced and upgraded. The Version Number is indicated by the mention V010 (for example). This procedure allows you to be sure you have the current version of a file. A number under V100 indicates a Beta Version, a number over 100 a stable release.

We expect a final Beta to be available sometimes in July 2005, and a stable and somewhat comprehensive release to be available before the end of 2005.
Please come back often to moringamission.blogspot.com and later to the www.moringanow.com
website itself for updates and to keep informed! Also, we truly welcome your comments and contributions!

READ THE 100 MORFACTS as soon as they get published:

· Morfacts 00-09 Intro & Overviews · Morfacts 10-19 Growing Moringa
· Morfacts 20-29 Food & Nutrition · Morfacts 30-39 Agri & Feed Uses
· Morfacts 40-49 Health & Medicine · Morfacts 50-59 Industrial Uses
· Morfacts 60-69 Moringa as a Tree · Morfacts 70-79 Moringa Recipes
· Morfacts 80-89 Moringa and Money · Morfacts 90-99 Organizational
· Conclusion: Do YOURSELF a BIG Favor... JOIN the GLOBAL MORINGA MOVEMENT now!

(C) 2005, moringanow.com Foundation, a Division of The Moringa Trust. All rights reserved worldwide.